Communal Collage Making and Class Legacy

Working with kids never ceases to amaze me.  I am continually impressed by their creativity, their insights and their talent.
A while back I spent an artist residency at Claysburg Kimmel High School, working with a group of seniors on a mural that will be their legacy to the school after they graduate.
We had a ton of fun and despite the serious senior-itis they were all experiencing (it was their final project before graduation), we got a lot done.

We started our process by talking about their class and what message they wanted to leave behind as they moved on.
They talked about how they were all individuals, coming from different backgrounds before starting school together.  Being a small rural community, most of these kids have known each other for most of their lives, but school has been their rock keeping them together.  They are now ready to move on and off into different directions.

From this conversation we talked about the metaphor of the tree, and how the roots were their individual identities, the trunk was their time together in school and the branches were their future paths as they take what they have learrned and move on.
They loved this idea and we ran with it in the creation of our work.

They really wanted to incorporate all the members of their senior class in the symbolism, so they decided to include things like their class flower and articles from the newspaper. They also decided to include the names of the entire senior class in the grass around the roots of the tree.  They invited every member of the senior class to add to the tree top, and we created circles for them to fill in with oil pastels and watercolor paint. 

We explored the concept of mixed media and they did everything from designing the work to creating painted papers to finding newspaper images to drawing to painting to collaging.  They worked collaboratively and regularly engaged in critical conversations to make sure that the work was progressing the way they wanted it to.  they were able to self-evaluate and to change course when things went awry. 
I was so impressed with their dedication to the project and their ability to work together to make something amazing.
I loved working with this group and am so excited by their final piece.

Paint Like a Preschooler

For the past few years I have been doing a decent side business making communal and collaborative pieces of art with large groups.  Every group makes something totally unique and the end result is a mash up of what they create and what we talk about as a group, combined into a mixed media mural.  It is a totally collaborative process.  I have only worked a few times with preschoolers, because it completely turns my process on its head, and I've generally believed that the deep thinking and conversation that older participants engage in is necessary to make a meaningful final piece.
However, when I recently did a project with a local preschool I was reminded that preschoolers really do make the best artists.

It was Picasso who said:
"It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child".

And wow, is that true. Preschoolers are not worried about making "good" art.  They are too busy actually making art.  And, frankly, they were pretty good at the conversation and deep thinking part as well.  I didn't have to work very hard at all to complete fun and whimsical final pieces out of their work.

For our project we talked about what we might want to put into a Peace Garden (talking about what peace looks like, feels like, tastes like and smells like), and then the kiddies drew and painted one thing they would like to add to our garden. They wanted to add lots of things including: butterflies, dragon flies, ice cream (lots of ice cream!), pizza, a harp, musical notes, mountains, oceans, ladybugs, birds, bees, flowers, trees, balloons, a kite, boats, rainbows, some bugs, a bat, a horse, a dog, and a lion.

 I made one final collage/painting per class, by combining their work and their ideas.  I added outlines and sometimes clarified shapes, and I used their scribblier work to add detail to the sky, the grass, the water, flowers, trees, etc.

Take a look at the final pieces. I think I should work with preschoolers more often---they can make anything look good!

Warm and Cool "Pop Hearts" for Valentine's Day

I just love making art with kids.  This past week we held an art day at my children's elementary school.  I spent the day making art with the whole school and we had a lot of fun.
For the younger grades (kindergarten through third grade) project we made "Pop Art Hearts" by using warm colors (reds, oranges, pinks) and cool colors (blues, greens, purples).


I taught the kids about warm and cool colors and then had them create two pop masterpieces using oil pastels on white construction paper.  For their first piece, they created a heart and used at least three warm colors inside it.  Then they used at least three cool colors on the outside.  If they had time, they made a  second piece, using the same techniques, but by flipping the colors  (cool on the inside and warm on the outside).

When they were done, some of them used a dark color (dark blue, purple or black works well), to outline their heart, making it "pop" even more.  

As you can see, they each made something totally unique.  Each heart looks great on its own but they look even better together.  The school now has a bunch of colorful pop hearts lining the walls, getting everyone in the spirt for Valentine's Day.